Another building on main street will be empty within the next few weeks, and that’s the Salvation Army Thrift Store.

“We never know why exactly a business closes. But my sense is that obviously their revenues weren’t meeting their expenses. It’s just difficult to have the right sized revenues generated to support the expenses,” says Director of Planning and Development, Ken Arndt.

“The rising cost of operation. It’s just an insurmountable cost for us to continue the thrift store without it eventually affecting our services,” says Envoy, Damon Hayward.

Hayward says when the Salvation Army moved to it’s current location, they were already in debt.

“The reason why the Salvation Army operates thrift stores is to be able to help fund the mission of the Salvation Army, and if a thrift store cannot do that, then you know obviously we can’t invest money to keep a thrift store open,” says Hayward.

Hayward says at this point, the store is over 40 thousand dollars in debt. This is a debt that will still have to be paid even when the store is closed. He’s hoping that they will be able to pay some of that off with the sales the store is having. Hayward says that even without the store, the Salvation Army will continue to help the community.

“The salvation army is not abandoning the area, that’s not happening. We are going to continue to do ministry and assist families in need,” says Hayward.

Arndt says even though Presque Isle will have an empty building, other businesses are opening.

“We as a city do what we can to sort of stimulate and create excitement so that people are drawn into the community,” says Arndt.

The official close date for the store will be March 22. This will be the last day you can shop. The building will be completely vacated on March 31.